eyec,
Many things.
No physical connection.
Router not powered on.
Wrong IP
Bad cable
Failed NIC
Failed Router

More info would be helpful.

Powered on, good cables, second new router, can connect to dsl via the router's builtin modem.

Wrong IP ??? can't access it so can't do an ipconfig,  the connection icon says "aquiring network address" but never aquires one.

Failed NIC - ran diagnostics and nothing failed.

both machines are wired to the same router.

i am suspecting a bad NIC, but wanted to try everyting else to be sure it is the card.

any other suggestions?

TIA

Nic's are so cheap its good to have an extra one on hand anyway, that way you can test and see if the nic you have is good or not. You can pick them up new for $10 sometimes and $2 to $3 used.

Good advice + great people = tek-tips

eyec,
This is what I would do.

Power off the Router,Modem and both Pc's.
Double Check the connections at the Router.
Unplug the connections at the PC's.
Power on the XP machine to the desktop.
Power on the router and let it cycle up.
Re-attach cat5 to the XP machine and see if it picks up an ip from the router.You can verify the IP through Network Connections by double clicking on the Local Area Connection icon and selecting the Support tab.
Let us know what you find.


You wrote:
"second new router, can connect to dsl via the router's builtin modem."


Was the first one an ISP supplied Modem/Router?
Is this second one an ISP supplied Modem/Router?
If not, are you required to call them and provision the MAC on it?
Is it picking up a DSL signal?
Did it require the Installation of Software?

I had a problem with a new Dell Laptop.  It wouldn't acquire an IP address.  After trying a few different things, I finally deleted the device from device manager.  Then, I scanned for hardware changes, the device was discovered, and it worked correctly.  I have no idea what the problem was, but remembered doing the same thing for a WIFI device that didn't work.

David

thanks for the info.  i am not at home but will try again when i return (but with a spare NIC card in tow).

well, first thing i did was put in a new linksys nic and my 2 wireless laptops and the ME machine can all see the router but my main XP machine still cannot acquire an ip address.

i have done everything mentioned here and everything short of reinstalling my entire system (that is my absolute option).

any other suggestions?

eyec,

Some basics:

On the XP machine, in betwork connections, is it set to obtain IP automatically?

If so ok is not set to obtain automatically.

At a cmd prompt enter   "ipconfig /flushdns" and enter
see is this clears any thing up.

Hope this helps

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all"

rvnguy, tried that and got an error that said

Quote:

the RPC server was not available

thanks for all of the help here, but after trying everything here and from another thread i gave in and did a repair install.

everything works the way it used to and i hope stays that way, because if took me all day to do the repair.